Beit Furik, Huwwara, Sat 9.2.08, Morning

Translation: Hanna K.

General:
The atmosphere is calmer than in the precedig weeks, perhaps because of the changing of the units. Now the Nahal soldiers serve at the Nablus CPs.

Huwwara:
The place looks "almost deserted" and the average passge in a regular queue took "only" about half an hour. At the humanitarian queue about five minutes. Contrary to what took place lately, even those entering Nablus, especially men, are also checked.
The girl dog-trainer is on the spot, and her checking and that of her "partner" very much delay the passage of the vehicles.
The X-ray machine has been repaired.

Beit Furik:
The CP commander comes up to us and out of his own initiative shows us that he has opened another lane, in addition to the one which always functions, for cars entering Nablus. The checking is continuous and strict but not abusive. At the taxi stand about 15 cars are waiting. A man meets us immediately upon our arrival and complains "about 80 cars" who stand in the queue "why don't you phone". We explained to him that there are no 80 cars, but nevertheless we contacted the humanitarian center.

Huwara:
The traffic is still sparse in both directions. The queue of cars heading southwards is not long, and the passage takes about twenty minutes. The dog trainer and her dog go out to have a break - a fact that speeds up the passage.
On our way to Jerusalem we stopped at Luban Al Sharkiya because we came upon a rolling checkpoint which delayed two taxi drivers who collected passengers at the exit from Luban on the closed road. When we arrived they returned the papers to the drivers and the jeep went away, but the serious problem remained without any solution.